The ground beneath Li Yun's feet was solid.
That alone was noteworthy.
After relocation, many cultivators reported disorientation—loss of spatial anchoring, Qi rejection, even partial dissolution of identity. Li Yun experienced none of that. His Golden Core rotated steadily, adapting without panic, as if it had always expected displacement.
He knelt and pressed his palm to the soil.
Qi surged upward—wild, fractured, layered with contradictory laws.
"Not hostile," Li Yun murmured. "Just… unruled."
This place had no system.
Which meant—
It had history.
---
A Sky Without Order
The sky above was a deep, uneven violet, threaded with drifting constellations that moved independently of one another. Some stars burned cold. Others pulsed erratically, vanishing and reappearing seconds later.
There was no sun.
Light came from everywhere and nowhere.
Li Yun stood slowly.
No cycle, he realized. No enforced rhythm.
Cultivation here would be difficult.
Also—
Free.
---
The First Scar
He did not travel far before sensing it.
A disturbance—old, heavy, layered with residual Golden Core pressure and something… fractured.
Li Yun followed it cautiously, suppressing outward aura and letting perception guide him instead.
The land dipped sharply into a shallow crater.
At its center—
Someone sat.
---
A Broken Core Still Breathes
The cultivator was female, her robes torn and fused with stone. Golden Core aura flickered weakly around her—unstable, but unmistakable.
Not dead.
Not whole.
She noticed Li Yun instantly.
Her eyes snapped open, sharp with reflex despite exhaustion.
"Don't come closer," she said hoarsely.
Li Yun stopped several paces away.
"I won't," he replied calmly.
Silence followed.
Then she laughed weakly.
"…Another one," she said. "They're still sending us here."
Li Yun inclined his head slightly.
"Yes."
---
Names Matter Here
She studied him carefully.
"You're intact," she said. "That's rare."
Li Yun nodded.
"So are you," he replied.
She snorted.
"Barely."
A pause.
"Name's Shen Yao," she said. "Former Golden Core of the Nine-Chain Sect."
Li Yun felt no recognition.
Which told him everything he needed to know.
"I'm Li Yun," he said. "Formerly unaligned."
Her expression shifted—interest flaring briefly.
"So you're one of the new problems," she said.
Li Yun smiled faintly.
"Apparently."
---
Why This Place Exists
Shen Yao gestured weakly toward the sky.
"This place isn't a prison," she said. "It's a filter."
Li Yun listened.
"They send cultivators here when erasure is wasteful but integration is impossible," she continued. "Those who adapt survive."
"And those who don't?" Li Yun asked.
She looked away.
"You'll find them."
---
Rules Without Enforcement
Li Yun crouched and examined the fractured Qi around her.
"Your core," he said. "It's cracked."
Shen Yao's jaw tightened.
"I stabilized it myself," she replied. "Barely. The laws here don't support orthodox repair."
Li Yun nodded.
"This place rejects imposed structure," he said. "But it accepts internal consistency."
Shen Yao looked at him sharply.
"…You figured that out fast."
Li Yun didn't answer.
---
The First Offer
"I can help you stabilize," Li Yun said calmly.
Shen Yao laughed bitterly.
"You don't even know how this place works yet."
Li Yun met her gaze steadily.
"But I know how cores work," he replied. "And I know what this land doesn't tolerate."
She hesitated.
Longer than she meant to.
"…If you fail," she said quietly, "you'll shatter what little I have left."
Li Yun nodded.
"Then say no."
Silence stretched.
Finally—
"Do it," she said. "I'm tired of waiting to decay."
---
A Different Kind of Refinement
Li Yun did not use techniques.
He did not impose formations.
He placed one hand on the ground and one in the air between them, circulating his own Golden Core slowly, letting its stability project outward without force.
Shen Yao gasped as her fractured core reacted.
Not healed.
Aligned.
The chaotic Qi around her slowed, reorganizing to mirror Li Yun's internal consistency rather than fighting it.
She screamed once—then went silent.
Minutes passed.
Then—
Her breathing steadied.
The flickering around her core dimmed—not gone, but calmer.
Li Yun withdrew immediately.
"That's all I can do for now," he said.
Shen Yao stared at him, trembling.
"…It stopped getting worse," she whispered.
Li Yun nodded.
"For now."
---
A Place of Survivors
Shen Yao pushed herself upright slowly.
"There are others," she said. "Scattered. Some hostile. Some broken. Some… dangerous."
Li Yun stood.
"Then we should find them," he replied.
She studied him.
"You planning to rule this place?" she asked flatly.
Li Yun shook his head.
"No," he said. "But I don't intend to rot alone either."
For the first time, Shen Yao smiled faintly.
"Good," she said. "Because the ones who tried that are dead."
---
The First Step of Something New
They moved together across the fractured land, two Golden Core cultivators carrying scars no system wanted to record.
Above them, the sky shifted unpredictably.
Below them, the ground held.
Li Yun felt it clearly now.
This place did not want obedience.
It wanted coherence.
He exhaled slowly.
"Then let's see," he said quietly, "what survives here."
---